But anyways, you guys talk about the Grizz screwing up, by trading Pau and making bad draft choices. At least they have a few young up and coming players to build around with. They are nothing compared to the Bobcats. Before Larry Brown came along they had come decent pieces in Okafor, J Rich, Felton, and Wallace. They also had Adam Morrison. In the 08 draft Brook Lopez slipped to them at the 9 spot and they were all set to get him until Larry Brown insisted they get DJ Augustin, the guy now he wants to trade. They could of had a line up of Felton, Richardson, Wallace, Okafor and Brooks. But no. I now they are on a roll and winning now, but they don't have a young player to build around like the Grizz do. Wallace is 27 . Capt. Jack is in his 30s with a short fuse. Larry had ruined the Knicks and now he ruined the long term Future of the Bobcats. I wouldn't want to be a fan of the Bobcats, thats for share.
How has Javaris Crittenton been underwhelming? He may have single handedly saved the Wizards from Gilbert Arenas' contract. Oh wait... you meant on the court. Yeah, he sucks.
if the other free agents this season don't leave their teams, gay might get moved into max dollar range. that won't be good for them
The Augustin pick was pretty baffling when they already had the mediocre Felton there. One thing Charlotte has been able to do is unload some big nasty contracts (Richardson, Okafor).
I actually think conley is good for their team. They have 4 20 pt scorer's and someone has to take less shots and play his role. I never was a conley fan because i think he wasn't even considered until the tourney, but oh well. As for the grizz and the trade, they had to trade gasol. He quit on the squad, was sulking, and wasn't playing hard at all. The losing had beat him down and it was showing, plus he was exposed as a all star caliber player that needed help vs a alpha male that could lead. In terms of the trade itself, thats why its not good to judge a trade until about 3 yrs. I thought they could've gotten more for gasol especially sending him to the east, but credit their scouts for having a book on marc gasol and getting 3 first rd picks that adds to the depth. Once again, coaching is also helping this team play well. The nba has so many young players, coaching is at a premium. Zac has always been a 20-10 and a great post player, gay and mayo has proven to be good effecient scorers, but hollis has gotten guys like carrol,young,hunter,tinsley,thabeet,and conley to act as support players in the grande scheme. What they're building is a team full of 10m players and thats a good thing. Their squad in terms of finances will look like the pistons. Zach makes 11,gay and mayo are worth 10, gasol is worth 10 and conley tbd right now. What they have is good balance and versitility. They did well in trading gasol and have replaced him with his brother. Just like the rockets should've taken the best offer for tracy and moved on.
If I remember correctly they could have traded that pick for multiple picks and still wound up with Acie Law or stuck with Lowry.
Wallace could have gotten more. It was a salary dump straight up, and they're fortunate Gasol Jr has developed his game. They could have received a lot more (picks, more young players, etc.). Wallace pretty much took the first offer that came along. He was widely panned for it at the time, and rightfully so. As irritated as I am with Wallace, at least he signed Darius Miles and screwed Portland's cap space last year. Now if Colangelo trades Bosh for Bynum, I will be serious pissed at him for handing the championship to the Lakers for the next 5 years.
Dealing these picks should have been considered, but Law would have been a bigger mistake even after trading down.
You cant honestly assess like you know how bad Law really is right now. He hasn't been in the right place. We know he is bad, but not how bad.
Exactly. I think we read a piece that said that Wallace had not even shopped around before he pulled the trigger with the Lakers. The Randolph signing was horrible. It is a miracle that Zach would turn out like this. Anyway, Wallace's greatest genius has to be trading Lowry to us. :grin:
Evans, Mayo, Gay, and Randolph all need the ball to be effective. That lineup would not have worked. It would have been talented, but in the end it would be a disaster. Very hard to win in this league without a true PG.
Evans was an obvious pick? He was seen as a pg without blinding athletecism and a broken shot. Who knew his game was tailor made for the SG spot...the Kings didn't even know what they had until Kmart got injured.
Huh? Richardson and Okafor have huge contracts but at least they're above average players (esp. Richardson). The real cap killers in the Bobcats are Nazr Mohammed and that other big they have that was previously on the Mavs, and now Cap'n S-Jack. IIRC the Bobcats will be capped out and near the lux tax for the forseeable future while having a lottery bound team. NOW that's the worst managed team in the NBA IMHO.
They still didn't get enough out for him. Pau was bigger than Gay,even though he didn't lead them to a playoff win. The bottom line is that the addition of Pau to the best player in the world led to an NBA Championship. There was a chance of that despite Pau's struggles in Memphis,and the Lakers got the better end of the deal.
Most people, even wallace and heisley themselves, agree it was dumping salary. What's your point? More players? or more salaried players? The point of a salary dump would be to start over. The fact that they were able to dump salary AND get a player to the level of Gasol is genius enough, but they also got 2 number one picks and Zach Randolph and J.critt.
Wallace: Hey Mitch, we want to dump some salaries. Care to take Pau off our hands? Kupchak: Sure, why not! Wallace: Gee, thanks!
Wallace is not a genius or lucky. I think the Gasol trade was more a product of Michael Heisley putting pressure on him to cut costs ASAP (hence, the awkward timing of the trade), because the Grizzlies were losing money hand over fist. But it's funny that Randolph essentially has the exact same contract as Pau's (pre-extension) deal. As for the Thabeet pick, agreed that it was stupid. Marc Gasol had already proven to be a quality young center. Despite his subtle threats to stay in Europe, if I were Heisley and Wallace, I would have called Ricky Rubio's bluff and drafted him #2 overall. With the #2 scale salary, Rubio would have been in a much better position to reach a settlement to pay his buyout with DKV Joventut. Memphis, despite being in the playoff hunt this year, is STILL dead last in attendance. Rubio would have helped with that. Hell, even if Rubio didn't come over, he'd only be playing a few minutes less than Thabeet is now anyway. Conley could have been moved, or could have started this year while Rubio is brought along slowly.
how many other teams had a contract like kwame's that was going to come of the books immediately? how many other teams right now have a contract like mcgrady's
Pau couldn't take them anywhere after 0-12 in playoff. They decided to rebuild. And what legit young bigman they can get out of Pau? Marc was actually as good as they could get, on top of it, it saved them a ton of money that they can bring Randolph too. Had they kept Pau, Pau would be too old when the likes of Mayo and Gay are in their prime. Wouldn't Marc a better player than Pau at that time and they can seriously contend? I think it works out for both sides, lucky or not.
